Filenews 18 February 2026 - by Angelos Nikolaou
With a three-year horizon (2026-2028) and a budget of €1.15 million, the Republic of Cyprus aims to modernize livestock farming and align with national targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 32% by 2030.
Today, the Council of Ministers approved the program for monitoring greenhouse gas emissions from livestock farming, based on the proposal of the Minister of Agriculture.
The need for the new program arises from alarming data showing that emissions from agriculture have increased by 17.3% since 1990, now constituting 6.6% of the country's total emissions.
The new program builds on the successful recipe of a previous project of the Agricultural Research Institute (ARI), which was completed in 2025. This project allowed for an updated recalculation of emissions from agriculture, contributing to very significant savings for the country through the Emissions Trading System.
The program, focused on nitrogen fertilizers, achieved:
• 70% reduction in the calculation of relevant emissions.
• Savings of €4.8 million. annually for the State through the Emissions Trading System.
The new research program, which will be funded entirely by national resources, now focuses on the climate footprint of animals. According to the proposal of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, specialized analyses will be carried out to determine the actual emissions of Cypriot livestock farming. It is noted that the data will be used to design measures in the next Strategic Plan for Rural Development, while for the needs of the project, five fixed-term employees will be hired for a period of 24 months.
The Minister of Agriculture, Maria Panagiotou, stated that through the new program, specialized measurements and analyses will be carried out to accurately determine the actual emissions of the country's livestock farming. The goal, he said, is to develop and formulate targeted policy measures to reduce the emissions of the livestock sector of Cyprus as well as to strengthen the scientific documentation that will support the integration of evidence-based interventions and management measures with a measurable climate footprint.
